A video released on a website showed Sunday a senior Iraqi police officer held hostage in Iraq was killed by al-Qaida's affiliates.

The victim identified himself as Col. Ryadh Kati Olyway, a liaison officer in the interim Iraqi Interior Ministry, according to the video.

Seated blindfolded between two masked men, he was shot in the head by a third man after confessing he "collaborated" with the US forces.

Behind them was a banner with the name of "Al-Qaida of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers", a group led by Osama bin Laden's ally in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The hostage said he provided "names and addresses of his fellow officers" in the former Iraqi army to the Americans.

He also said many women prisoners held by the ministry were suffering torture and violation of honor.

The authenticity of the video could not be verified.

Iraq's interim authority was facing a wave of assassinations and abductions, mounted by insurgents bent on driving out foreign forces.

Zarqawi, Pentagon's top wanted militant in Iraq, has claimed responsibility for numerous killings and kidnappings in Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2005)